The annexation of the Partido de Nicoya to Costa Rica is a historical event that refers to the incorporation of the territory of Nicoya (most of what is today's modern day Guanacaste) to the State of Costa Rica, which occurred on July 25, 1824.
The annexation went through a plebiscite that took place in the city of Nicoya, in which, in the open town hall, the inhabitants of the municipalities of Nicoya and Santa Cruz voted to join Costa Rica, while the town of Guanacaste, today the city of Liberia, declined the annexation, however, on March 18, 1825, said population became part of Costa Rica by a law issued by the Congress of the Federal Republic of Central America. The term annexation of Guanacaste to refer to this event is considered historically incorrect.
Currently, the annexation of the Nicoya Territory is an anniversary of Costa Rica, which is celebrated with civic and cultural events in schools and communities across the country every July 25. Guanacaste's official motto (which appears in its official sigil) is "De la patria por nuestra voluntad" (Of the homeland by our own will) for this reason.
History
Nicoya became a legal political, administrative and legal entity subject to the Villa de Bruselas township, controlled by the government of Castilla del Oro. In 1527, the Spanish Crown created the Province of Nicaragua, segregating it from Castilla de Oro, and included the territory of the Kingdom of Nicoya, since it was requested to establish whether the territory of the Villa de Bruselas (located at the southern tip of Nicoya) belonged to the Province of Nicaragua (the new circumscription), or if it remained under the authority of Castilla de Oro, and a Royal Decree of April 21, 1529, resolved the conflict in favor of the Province of Nicaragua, when the Villa had ceased to exist.
In 1554, the Corregimiento de Nicoya was established, segregating it from the Province of Nicaragua. The Mayoralty of Nicoya became an entity that was directly dependent on the Royal Audience of Guatemala. In 1555, as a result of the war of conquistadors in the viceroyalty of Peru, the Audiencia of Guatemala appointed Coroner of Nicoya to Pedro Ordóñez de Villaquirán. In 1566, Miguel Jiménez Ferrer was named Mayor of Nicoya, becoming the Corregimiento in Mayoralty of Nicoya. Although the Corregidor and the Mayoralty had the same faculties, the difference was that the Corregidor was appointed by the Audiencia, while the Mayor was appointed directly by the King through the Council of the Indies. The High Mayor of Nicoya continued to depend on the province of Nicaragua until 1588.
In 1573, the Province of Costa Rica was officially created to replace the Province of Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica (1540). In 1576, Diego de Artieda Chirino y Uclés was appointed governor in charge of the three entities: Nicaragua, Nicoya and Costa Rica. This situation was maintained until 1588, when Artieda was deposed by the Audiencia of Guatemala, and autonomy was granted to the three entities separately. Between 1588 and 1593, Nicoya enjoyed political autonomy, both in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
In 1593, it was decided to add the Mayor of Nicoya to the province of Costa Rica, when King Phillip II confirmed the capitulations given to Diego Artieda Chirino in 1573, appointing Fernando de la Cueva y Escobedo. During the period 1593 to 1602 period, the governor of Costa Rica was appointed at the same time Mayor of Nicoya. This situation was maintained until 1602, when the High Mayor was declared again autonomous. From 1602 and for eighty years, the Mayor of Nicoya enjoyed political autonomy in its functions, independent of the colonial governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Their high mayors or corregidores were directly appointed in Guatemala, and their faculties were those of minor governorates. This condition was maintained until 1786 when the intendancy regime was created in the Kingdom of Guatemala.
In 1786, the High Mayor of Nicoya was once again united to the Province of Nicaragua, when it was incorporated as a party to the Intendency of León, created as a political-administrative dependency of the Kingdom of Guatemala, through the Royal Decree of December 23, 1786 The Party of Nicoya was under the government of a Subaltern Political Chief.
In 1812, the Intendancy of Leon was united with the Province of Costa Rica (that was under a military government dependent on the Captaincy General of Guatemala, with the same faculties of an Intendance but with a smaller rank, since in the hacienda it depended on the Intendency of Leon), in a new circumscription, the Province of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, but during the Bourbon Restoration in Spain (1814–1820) it was again divided into two entities: Intendencia de León and Provincia de Costa Rica.
In 1820, when the Constitution of Cádiz was restored in 1812, the Province of Nicaragua and Costa Rica were reestablished. On December 13, 1820, the new Provincial Council divided the territory into seven parties: Segovia, El Realejo, León, Granada, Nicaragua (Rivas), Nicoya and Costa Rica.
After September 15, 1821, the signing of the Central American Declaration of Independence, Miguel González Saravia y Colarte, Political Chief Superior and President of the Provincial Delegation of the Province of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, signed on September 28, 1821, act of conditional independence of the Province of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, known as the Acta de los Nublados, and on October 11, 1821, the act of absolute independence of the Province of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. However, on October 15, 1821, the Cabildo of Cartago agreed to annul the votes cast previously and to adopt the decision to stay out of the events, without assuming any commitment to Guatemala or León. On October 29, 1821, an open meeting was held in Cartago, in which a document was drawn up proclaiming the independence of Costa Rica from the Spanish Government. On December 1, 1821, the Covenant of Concord was proclaimed, which restores the Province of Costa Rica, separated from the Province of Nicaragua, which still maintained the remaining six parties, including Nicoya.
Precedents
Due to its geographical location, the Nicoya party maintained continuous and very close commercial relations with Costa Rica, on which it depended for certain administrative branches, and for other matters, it depended on Nicaragua. In very important administrative matters, he went directly to the Hearing of Guatemala.
The three main populations of the party at the time of annexation were:
Nicoya: was the head of the partido, seat of political and religious authorities, was governed by a Supreme Chief or Mayor. The colonial city was founded a few kilometers north of the pre-Columbian city of Nicoya. He played a very important role both for the conquest of Nicaragua and that of Costa Rica. He maintained an active trade with the city of Puntarenas. It had 1978 inhabitants at the time of annexation. Santa Cruz: located in the area of Diría, it was a place of aboriginal settlement, later its population was increased with the arrival of Ladinos coming from Nicoya. It had 2502 inhabitants at the time of annexation. Guanacaste (present Liberia): located north of the Salto River, was a village with 1366 inhabitants that emerged in 1769. It served as a passing village and survived the livestock trade mainly with the city of Rivas, Nicaragua.
The bases of the annexation of the party from Nicoya to Costa Rica have deep roots in the past. Although Nicoya's ties with Nicaragua were always very close, Costa Rica was not unaware of this connection. For the annexation to occur, there were many determining factors that include geographical realities, political ties, historical situations and socio-economic contexts, where the proximity and commercial activity of Nicoya with the port of Puntarenas was a determining element. But there were also realities within the same populations that constituted the party, which influenced the decision to be made, since there were also technical, socio-economic and cultural differences between two dissimilar groups that made up the party's population: annexationists, formed by a nucleus of large cattle ranchers, descendants of Spaniards, with close ties to Nicaragua. Opposed to this traditionalist and powerful circle, the group of annexationists, made up of indigenous people, ladinos and mestizos, was numerically superior, with a great affinity to each other, with a closed economy and common deficiencies, which saw in the annexation a solution to many of those deficiencies.
Political
In 1813, the governor of Costa Rica, Tomás de Acosta y Hurtado de Mendoza, wrote to the president of the Audiencia of Guatemala a letter stating the scarcity of the population of Costa Rica (only 60,000 inhabitants), which prevented him from choosing a Deputy for the Cortes of Cádiz, proposing that the Nicoya party join Costa Rica to carry out this election, in which Florencio del Castillo was chosen as representative of both territories. After this election, the political ties between the representatives of Nicoya and Costa Rica became closer, as Nicoya had to send his constituents to Cartago for various votes, such as the elections for the representatives before the Provincial Delegation of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
After Central American independence in 1821, Costa Rica decided to separate from the Provincial Council, to which Nicoya remained subject until 1824. In spite of this, Nicoya continued to send his representatives to Cartago, since the independence agitation determined the need for frequent renewal of officials and the creation of government agencies, which strengthened the municipalities, such as Santa Cruz.
The political-electoral bonds between Nicoya and Costa Rica were strengthened so that in 1822 the possibility of the incorporation of Nicoya to Costa Rica was already considered, when the bases of the union of Costa Rica to the First Mexican Empire were dictated it established: "they will include for their benefit the party of Guanacaste and Nicoya in the part that they claim and want to adopt by the identity of interest, in which case the northern part of the province in that part, will be the one that has recognized that party on the mountain of Nicaragua".
The creation of the First Mexican Empire by Agustín de Iturbide in 1821 provoked the appearance of imperialist and republican factions, confronting each other, in several countries of the isthmus. In the case of Nicaragua, this was reflected in the struggle for local power between the cities of León and Granada, which struggled for much of the nineteenth century. In 1823, two years after independence, there was an uprising against the conservative government in Nicaragua. This rebellion, led by the liberal José Anacleto Ordóñez Bermúdez, was a consequence of the intention of the conservatives to annex the country to the Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide. The uprising of Ordóñez continued despite the dissolution of the Mexican Empire, with new uprisings in 1824 led by Leon Méndez and Domingo Galarza, and then another blow from Ordóñez. This situation of internecine wars and coups d'etat was prolonged with the war between Argüello y Cerda (1827–1829), and later with several uprisings that will culminate in 1855 with the National War of Nicaragua. In the case of Costa Rica, there was a short civil war in April 1823, which was settled with the Republican victory, so that on the eve of the annexation, Costa Rica showed a more stable outlook than Nicaragua.
In 1823, the Costa Rican lawyer and deputy to the Central American Federal Congress, Pedro Zeledón Mora, stated in a letter dated in León, Nicaragua, the convenience of incorporating Nicoya to Costa Rica: "(...)it is very advantageous because of the increase in land and other utilities, without prejudice to it (Nicaragua), which neither makes nor will make use of it."
Economical